10 Predictions for 2026

A financial infrastructure platform dedicated to connecting fiat and crypto in Latin America is rapidly emerging.

On January 12, VelaFi announced the completion of a $20 million Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to over $40 million. This achievement reflects strong market confidence in the stablecoin payments sector.

Of particular note, Alibaba Investment, a subsidiary of Alibaba, joined the roster of VelaFi’s investors.

Why Alibaba?

Alibaba Investment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba, established in 2000 and registered in the British Virgin Islands.

As one of the largest B2B and B2C trading platforms globally, Alibaba understands the pain points of cross-border payments—high fees, slow settlement cycles, and exchange rate volatility.

VelaFi’s stablecoin infrastructure delivers instant, low-cost cross-border settlements. Its deep presence in emerging markets like Latin America overlaps with the key growth regions for AliExpress and Alibaba International.

This investment signals Alibaba’s exploration of stablecoin technology to enhance local payment and merchant settlement experiences in emerging markets.

Who else is backing VelaFi?

VelaFi’s latest funding round was led by XVC and Ikuyo, with participation from Alibaba Investment, Planetree, and existing investors such as BAI Capital. VelaFi’s total funding now exceeds $40 million.

XVC, one of the lead investors, is a dual-currency (RMB and USD) fund manager headquartered in Beijing. Partner Boyu Hu has invested in notable companies including Kuaishou, Weee!, Walnut Programming, and CHAGEE.

Ikuyo, the other lead investor, is a Tokyo-listed company. This is not their first collaboration; back in November 2025, when VelaFi entered the Japanese market, they formed a strategic partnership and jointly organized the Stablecoin Settlement Association, offering transparent and cost-effective settlement services for exporters and global businesses.

Who is VelaFi?

VelaFi is part of Galactic Holdings, founded by a Chinese team. Co-founder and CEO Maggie Wu also serves as VelaFi’s CEO and is the founder of the prominent venture capital firm Krypital Group. In 2025, Galactic Holdings rebranded its enterprise business TruBit Business to VelaFi.

VelaFi began in Latin America and has expanded operations to the US and Asia. According to VelaFi, it has served hundreds of enterprise clients and processed billions of dollars in payment volume to date.

Core Model

VelaFi focuses on the B2B market. To ensure compliance, all enterprise clients must pass strict KYC (Know Your Customer) and KYB (Know Your Business) verification before joining VelaFi’s network.

Its core model consists of three main components:

1. Fiat On-Ramp & Off-Ramp

This is VelaFi’s foundational business, designed to address the challenge of seamless conversion between fiat and stablecoins.

On-ramp: Enterprise end users pay with local fiat currency, and the enterprise receives an equivalent amount in stablecoins (such as USDT/USDC) or assets like Bitcoin.

Off-ramp: Enterprises send stablecoins to VelaFi, which uses local banking networks to deposit funds as local fiat currency into users’ bank accounts.

2. Global Payments and Cross-Border Transfers

VelaFi also offers global payment services, enabling cross-border fund transfers via a “Fiat A – Fiat B” route. For example, a Mexican company pays a Brazilian supplier. Previously, this required complex intermediaries; now, with VelaFi, the payment is made in pesos (MXN), and the recipient receives reais (BRL).

VelaFi serves as an accelerator built atop traditional banking rails.

Its key advantage is deep integration with major Latin American instant payment systems: SPEI (Mexico’s interbank electronic payment system), PIX (Brazil’s real-time payment system), and PSE (Colombia’s payment system). By linking these traditional payment rails to stablecoin liquidity, VelaFi brings crypto assets into real-world applications such as cross-border e-commerce, outsourcing, and international trade.

Statement:

1. This article is republished from [Foresight News]. Copyright belongs to the original author [KarenZ]. If you have concerns about this republication, please contact the Gate Learn team, who will address your request according to established procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only and do not constitute investment advice.
3. Other language versions of this article are translated by the Gate Learn team. Do not copy, distribute, or plagiarize the translated article without referencing Gate.